Lasker loses odds-match to a young lady!

I recently came across this game below between 24-year old Emanuel Lasker and 22-year old Nellie Showalter. It was played in New York in 1893 – a year before Lasker would become World Champion – and was part of a 7 game odds-match.

I think the match result speaks for itself and answers the question as to whether there were any master-level women in those distant times.

Lasker, Emanuel – Showalter, NellieNew York 1893(0-1)

[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Every game of the match saw Lasker remove his Queen Knight. Odds-games in those days was quite common between players of different strengths. Morphy, himself, played many dozens of such games. </strong>} 1.f4 d5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 e6 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Be2 Bd7 {[#] <strong style="color:red;">Black decides to delay castling until White does so. This is a wise decision, as now Lasker does not have a fixed target to attack.</strong>}7.O-O
O-O {[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}8.Qe1 Ne8 9.g4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Lasker’s only chance to win the game is to go directly towards the Black King. Nellie, who had never read a chess book and was an entirely natural player relying on her common sense and intelligence, immediately begins a counter attack towards the center!</strong>} Nb4! 10.Bd1 Bb5 11.d3 c5 12.g5 c4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Lasker is not given any time to breath. Nellie presses her material advantage, creating threats and forcing the World Champion on the defence.</strong>} 13.a3 Nc6
14.Be2 cxd3 15.cxd3 Bc5{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} 16.Qf2 a5 17.Rfe1 Nd6 18.Rac1 Ba7{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} 19.Bf1
Nf5 20.Kh1 Qb6{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>} 21.g6 {[#] <strong style="color:red;">The game is lost. Lasker gives it one last go, but his opponent does not miss a heart beat.</strong>}fxg6 22.Ng5 Rae8 23.Qf3 Nxe3 24.Qh3 h6 25.Nxe6{[#] <strong style="color:red;"></strong>}
Nd1 {…} 0-1

You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Twenty-two year old Nellie Showalter (wife of the great American champion Jackson Showalter) was no doubt a master level player when this match with the future World Champion was played. Nellie learned to play chess only after marrying (she was a happy 16 year-old from a prominent family).

You should read the article below written by Nellie as it will give you insight into her views on chess and women. It is clear that Nellie’s thinking is very open minded. She was a free thinker.

In those days there was an absence of overt sexism in chess, contrary to today’s FIDE-driven, gender-segregated chess world.

Both Steinitz and Lasker actively encouraged women to play in (men’s) tournaments, seeing no reason why women could not play as well as men.

But women rarely participated in official (men’s) tournaments for a variety of social reasons and pressures (the woman’s place was at home), but the central reason – and most often overlooked reason – is that women did NOT smoke in those days while virtually all men did!

Smoking was considered an exclusively male ritual. Tournaments were cesspools of odorous smoke. Women could not stand this kind of environment for very long periods of time.

Women were not considered mentally inferior to men, and it is clear that Nellie felt that women players could become professional if they chose to.